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Rivisiting the history may have different meaning for different people and not necessarily everyone like the same. However if it is all said in an interesting manner, there comes a stage when one could not avoid visiting the same. That is what it was done by James Cameron. He found the idea to represent the famous and unsinkable Titanic and the disaster it met in her first visit, by weaving it into a romantic and emotional tale. He did succeed doing so. This heart breaking incident was visited by people and they could link themselves with Jack and Rose and of course the Titanic as well. Now when it is almost a 100 years passed to the mishap (first voyage of Titanic was started on 10th April 1912 from Southampton), the fascinating movie Titanic is coming in all new 3D Avatar. During the time when the movie was first released and now, there were a lot changed in terms of technology, audience and more. As Kate Winslet (the female protagonist of the movie) claimed, she got thinner and Leonardo (the male protagonist of the movie) put on – during the time 🙂
| Movie | : | Titanic |
| Writer, Director | : | James Cameron |
| Producers | : | James Cameron, Jon Landau |
| Actors | : | Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane,Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Kathy Bates, Danny Nucci, Bernard Hill, Victor Garber, Eric Braeden, more than 150 extras and others… |
As we know RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City. During the titles we see people are seeing off their loved ones to their first voyage on the Titanic. Though film starts with the stuff about Brock Lovett. In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team explore the wreck of Titanic for a diamond which was named as “Heart Of The Ocean”. As it was believed that Caledon “Cal” Hockley was the last possessor of the diamond. It was known that entire Hockley family on Titanic was met to the death during the disaster, Lovett concentrates on finding the safe of Hockley and he and his team finally gets it! Did they found what they wanted? No, rather they got picture of a women wearing that! The picture was dated April 14, 1912; the night RMS Titanic met with the disaster. After the news was published an elderly women named Rose (Rose Dawson Calvert) contacted Lovett by claiming that she is the women in the picture! Lovett pays her a visit and asked her about the stuff. Here we got to know that she is indeed Rose DeWitt Bukater (who was believed to be one of the passengers who met their death on that dark night)! We got to know the entire tale from her mouth then. (BTW: It is worth to note that all the photos on her dressing table and around shows her doing the things Jack – the protagonist asked her to do to live a life on her own by letting her feelings flow freely and do whatever she love doing, eg. Horse riding with both the legs on either side etc.)
She was 17 years old then when she board the ship in Southampton accompanied by her fiance Cal Bukater and her mother. She was definitely not in good mood when arrived at dock. The ship was fantastic and gorgeous of course. (By the way it is worth to note that Most of the decor on the ship was either reconstructed by or under the supervision of researchers of the White Star Line, the original company which constructed and furnished the Titanic. The movie cost more than $200 million and actual titanic was almost $7.5 million when constructed which is equivalent to $125-$150 million in 1997 – when the movie was shot). Cal was a business tycoon. (Rose’ family have had some financial problems and the engage with Rose will result into ending those, which made them stress arranging the engagement asap. However Rose in her late teens was having her mental situation and she was not quite happy with the stuff. She then consider commit suicide by jumping off the ship. )
By the way during the course, We also had seen that a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his friend were playing gamble and at the end won two tickets of Titanic! However they have got only 5 minutes to reach to the ship. Which they conquer and get board on the ship. They got to share a cabin having accommodation of 4 and on the other hand we see Rose and her family was having their own deck. Rose and Cal were at two different ends in terms of taste. Rose loved modern art and Cal thought it was nothing but the waste of money. There is the reference of the artist Picasso was also given during their conversation. We see the operating of the giant ship also. Jack and his friend were enjoying the journey in the ship and Jack gives the famous Titanic pose at the driving end of ship, he was free of all the worries and his friend was with all the hopes to get better career in America. When rose was taking the dinner Jack was sketching a kid taking to his father. Here Jack sees Rose for the first time.
So all ready to jump off the ship Rose was just about to jump when Jack comes there. Here we got the famous dialog “If you will jump, I will jump” by Jack. However during all this happenings Rose fell and Jack however rescues her back to the board. By hearing her cry for help security people comes there and arrests Jack. They all though he tried doing some mishap with Rose and all. However Rose clears the dust and Jack was released. As a gift his heroic work he was invited to a dinner together. That night to get Rose’s mood cheer, Cal presents her the legendary Blue diamond named heart of the ocean in a necklace.
Jack and Rose met then and Rose paid him the note of Thanks. She got to see Jack’s sketch book here and admires his art. By the way: All the pictures in Jack’s sketchbook were drawn by James Cameron – the director himself. They meet again for dinner where Jack was given a fantastic suit by a rich lady and looked like a gentleman. He was confident between rich people and gives some of the gems of life living policy. After the dinner he calls Rose to a party at the third deck where she went and she really enjoyed it.
Unhappy with these incidents Cal gets angry, even Rose’ mother tells her to keep herself away from Jack and tells that they are running on very thin money line and the engagement is all they need. Rose’ father left the world and left almost nothing. So keeping the lifestyle is not an easy task for them now. Rose finally agrees her. There were attempts made by Jack to meet Rose which were failed. Jack then tried meething Rose by climbing through to upper deck (When Jack sneaks onto the first-class deck in search of Rose, we see a young boy playing with a top as his father looks on. The father is played by Titanic historian and author Don Lynch, of the Titanic Historical Society, who served as a consultant on the film). We also see here the captain getting warning about icebergs. Jack and Rose meets here and Jack tells her his feelings. Later they meet late night and Jack brings her to the railings of the ship and they both strikes the famous Titanic couple pose. With all fantastic visuals and beauties it is a gem of art indeed.
She then brings her to her room and approaches him to draw her wearing the necklace with the blue diamond, the heart of ocean. (The piece of art which later found from the safe, which was the starting point of the story as we know). Jack then draws her as per her wish. (BTW:The hands seen sketching Rose is actually director James Cameron’s. In post-production, Cameron, who is left-handed, reversed the shot so the artist would be appear to be right-handed, like DiCaprio). The employee of Cal suspects her and follows her by informing her. And during the chase between them The Titanic moved near and near to its end.
The Titanic then hits to an Iceberg. The captain and other crew got to know that the unsinkable titanic is hit so hard that it will sunk. Cal and his group gets Jack arrested by claiming that he theft the necklace and diamond from their safe (coz they knew whatever happened between Jack and Rose). They then slip the necklace to Jack’s coat and prove it. Jack was arrested, he tried convincing Rose that he didn’t done any theft. All the passengers were informed to wear life jacked and woolen cloths and made alert. Rose asked the officials that she had seen the Iceberg so let her know what actually will happen. She got informed that Titanic will sink and she got to reach to the lifeboat as soon as possible. (As there were half the lifeboats then needed.) Captain got the SOS message delivered, however only RMS Carpathia replied. It was the nearest ship and can reach to Titanic in about four hours to save the passengers. It is the time Titanic didn’t have. 4 hours were too much. When people were transported to the life boats. By a hint of Cal, Rose got to know that Jack was trapped. She then get tot Jack and found him tied with a poll and key to the lock to the chain was not there. They tried hard and at the last moment they got to release Jack. The rich people from first deck were trying to keep their so called standard there also. Around 12 to 20 people were transferred to the lifeboat of capacity of 65. However they knew that there were half the lifeboats then actually needed!
After insisting a lot by Jack, Rose was not ready to leave him on the ship and use the boat. However he and Cal got succeed convince her to do so by confirming that they have arrangements so Jack will be saved! She however jumped from the life boat to deck 3 when reached down. She was not ready to live without Jack anyway. Cal was very angry with the reunion of Jack and Rose and fires on them but they escaped. We got to see the character of every one on the course the ship was sinking. Well, the scenes were filmed with so much intensity that it lets us visit the possible horrific situations of the time very much. It would be unkind to say the scenes were good, the scenes are best at quality but exploring the sad moments. They are all realistic. The last dialogs in the freezing water of the ocean, between Jack and Rose are first rate. Rose got saved as she was on the wood but Jack got freeze till the life boat is there. That was it.
As mentioned at various sources like IMDB: in the scene where the water comes crashing into the Grand Staircase room, the film makers only had one shot at it because the entire set and furnishings were going to be destroyed in the shot.When James Cameron was writing the movie, he intended for the main characters Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson to be entirely fictitious. It was only after the script was finished that he discovered that there had been a real J. Dawson who died aboard the Titanic. This was trimmer Joseph Dawson, who had been born September 1888 in Dublin, Ireland. His body was salvaged and buried at Fairview Lawn cemetery in Nova Scotia with many other Titanic victims. Today, his grave stone (#227) is the most widely visited in the cemetery.
Rose and the other survivors are taken by the RMS Carpathia to New York, where Rose gives her name as Rose Dawson. She hides from Cal on Carpathia’s deck as he searches for her. She learns later that he committed suicide after losing his fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Her story complete, Rose goes alone to the stern of Lovett’s ship. There she takes out the Heart of the Ocean, which has been in her possession all along, and drops it into the ocean. While seemingly asleep in her bed, the photos on her dresser are a visual chronicle that she lived a free life inspired by Jack. The young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the RMS Titanic, cheered and congratulated by those who perished on the ship.
Some more facts:
Kate Winslet almost quit the film as she contracted pneumonia while shooting the water scenes. However, Cameron insisted her to stay and was succeed.
The post-sinking scenes were shot in a 350,000 gallon tank where the frozen corpses were created by applying a powder on the actors that then crystallized when exposed to water. Wax was applied to hair and clothes to create a wet look.
| Fictional characters | Hisotrical Characters | |
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Some of the Awards won by Titanic Movie (It is also there in American Film Institute’s Best Film list – since its release):
| Award | : | Details |
| Golden Globes | : |
Won: Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Song Nominated but lost: Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart |
| ACE “Eddie” Award | : | Won |
| ASC Award | : | Won |
| Cinema Audio Society Awards | : | Won |
| Directors Guild of America Award | : | Won |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Award | : | Won (James Cameron : Best Director) |
| Screen Actors Guild Award | : | Won (Gloria Stuart : Best Supportin Actress) |
| Academy Awards | : | Nominations : 14 Won: 11 Best Picture : Titanic Best Director : James Cameron Best Original Song : “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic Best Original Dramatic Score : James Horner Best Sound Editing : Tom Bellfort and Christopher Boyes Best Sound Mixing : Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers and Mark Ulano Best Art Direction : Peter Lamont and Michael D. Ford Best Cinematography : Titanic – Russell Carpenter Best Costume Design : Deborah Lynn Scott Best Film Editing : Conrad Buff , James Cameron and Richard A. Harris Best Visual Effects :Robert Legato, Mark A. Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher and Michael Kanfer Nominated but lost (Kate Winslet : Best Actress, Gloria Stuart: Best Supporting Actress, Tina Earnshaw, Greg Cannom and Simon Thompson : Best Makeup) |
| Grammy Awards | : | My Heart Will Go On… Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television |
| MTV Movie Awards | : |
Leonardo DiCaprio : Best Male Performance Titanic : Best Movie |
| Awards of the Japanese Academy | : | Titanic : Best Foreign Film Of the year |
